Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter in February 1280 to Niike
Saemon-no-jo, a samurai of the Kamakura regime.
Niike was so called because he lived in an area by the same name. He
and his wife maintained their faith even when
all the Daishonin's followers were subject to harsh persecutions.

In this Gosho, the Daishonin teaches us from many angles what faith is
and how it should be practiced. First he tells
us what great fortune it is to have been born in the Latter Day of the
Law with the mission to spread true Buddhism
throughout the world. Yet it would be foolhardy to profess faith in the
Lotus Sutra and still commit slander. The
consequences are a low condition of life, no matter who makes the
error. Using the example of the foolish bird
Kankucho (Bird Suffering from Cold), the Daishonin admonishes his
believers never to lapse into negligence or be
tempted by fame or fortune. They should analyze their lives from a
deeper perspective and adhere to the wisdom of
Buddhism.

After mentioning the deplorable state of the country and the
degradation of Buddhist priests, he portrays the purpose
of the Lotus Sutra by comparing a common mortal to an egg.
Enlightenment exists as a potential within human life,
like the fluids in an egg that evolve into a bird. Lastly, he says that
the key to enlightenment is faith in the Gohonzon.

Letter to Niike

What joy to have been born in the Latter Day of the Law and to have
shared in the propagation of true Buddhism!
How pitiful are those who, though born in this time, cannot believe in
the Lotus Sutra!

No one can escape death once he is born as a human being, so why do you
not practice in preparation for the next
life? When I observe what people are doing, I realize that although
they profess faith in the Lotus Sutra and clasp its
scrolls, they act against the spirit of the sutra and thereby readily
fall into the evil paths. To illustrate, a person has
five major internal organs, but should even one of them become
diseased, it will infect all the others and eventually he
will die. The Great Teacher Dengyo stated, "Even though one praises the
Lotus Sutra, he destroys its heart." He
meant that even if one embraces, reads and praises the Lotus Sutra, if
he betrays its intent, he will be destroying not
only Shakyamuni but all other Buddha in the universe.

The sum of our worldly misdeeds and evil karma may be as great as Mount
Sumeru, but once we take faith in this
sutra, they will vanish like frost or dew under the sun of the Lotus
Sutra. However, if one commits even one or two
of the fourteen slanders set forth in this sutra, his offense is almost
impossible to expiate. Killing a single Buddha
would be a far greater offense than destroying all living beings in the
universe, and to violate the sutra's spirit is to
commit the sin of destroying all Buddhas. One who commits any of these
fourteen is a slanderer.

Hell is a dreadful dwelling of fire, and Hunger is a pitiful state
where starving people devour their own children.
Anger is strife, and Animality is to kill or be killed. The hell of the
blood-red lotus is so called because the intense
cold of this hell makes one double over until his back splits open and
the bloody flesh emerges like a crimson lotus
flower. And there are hells even more horrible. Once one falls into
such an evil state, even a throne or the title of
general means nothing. He is no different from a monkey on a string,
tormented by the guards of hell. What use are
his fame and fortune then? Can he still be arrogant and persist in his
false beliefs?

Stop and ponder! How rare is the faith that moves one to give alms to a
priest who knows the heart of the Lotus
Sutra! He will not stray into the evil paths if he does so even once.
Still greater are the benefits arising from ten or
twenty contributions, or from five years, ten years, or a lifetime of
contributions. They are even beyond the measure
of the Buddha's wisdom. The Buddha taught that the blessings of a
single offering to the votary of this sutra are a
hundred thousand myriad times greater than those of offering boundless
treasure to Shakyamuni for more than eight
billion aeons. When you embrace this sutra, you will overflow with
happiness and shed tears of joy. It seems
impossible to repay our debt to Shakyamuni, but by your frequent
offerings to me deep in these mountains you will
repay the merciful kindness of the Lotus Sutra and Shakyamuni Buddha.
Strive ever harder in faith and never give in
to negligence. Everyone appears to believe sincerely when he first
embraces the Lotus Sutra, but as time passes, he
tends to become less devout; he no longer reveres nor serves the priest
and arrogantly forms distorted views. This is
most frightening. Be diligent in developing your faith until the last
moment of your life. Otherwise you will have
regrets. For example, the journey from Kamakura to Kyoto takes twelve
days. If you travel for eleven but stop on
the twelfth, how can you admire the moon over the capital? No matter
what, be close to the priest who knows the
heart of the Lotus Sutra, keep learning from him the truth of Buddhism
and continue you journey of faith.

How swiftly the days pass! It makes us realize how short are the years
we have left. Friends enjoy the cherry
blossoms together on spring mornings and then they are gone, carried
away like the blossoms by the winds of
impermanence, leaving nothing but their names. Although the blossoms
have scattered, the cherry trees will bloom
again with the coming of spring, but when will those people be reborn?
The companions with whom we composed
poems praising the moon on autumn evenings have vanished with the moon
behind the shifting clouds. Only their
mute images remain in our hearts. The moon has set behind the western
mountains, yet we shall compose poetry
under it again next autumn. But where are our companions who have
passed away? Even when the approaching
Tiger of Death roars, we do not hear. How many more days are left to
the sheep bound for slaughter?
Deep in the Snow Mountains lives a bird called Kankucho which, tortured
by the numbing cold, cries that it will
build a nest in the morning. Yet, when the day breaks, it sleeps away
the hours in the warm light of the morning sun
without building its nest. So it continues to cry vainly throughout its
life. The same is true of people. When they fall
into hell and suffocate in its flames, they long to be reborn as humans
and vow to put everything else aside and serve
the three treasures in order to attain enlightenment in their next
life. But even on the rare occasions when they happen
to be reborn human, the winds of fame and fortune blow violently and
the lamp of Buddhist practice is easily
extinguished. The squander their wealth without a qualm on meaningless
trifles but begrudge even the smallest
contribution to the Buddha, the Law, and the Priest. This is very
serious, for then they are being hindered by
messengers from hell. This is the meaning of "Good by the inch invites
evil by the yard."

Furthermore, since this is a land whose people slander the Lotus Sutra,
the gods who would be protecting them
thirst for the Law and ascend to heaven, forsaking their shrines. The
empty shrines are the occupied by demons who
mislead the worshippers. The Buddha, his teachings completed, returned
to eternal paradise. Temples and shrines
were abandoned to become the dwellings of devils. These imposing
structures stand in rows, built at state expense,
and still the people suffer. These are not merely my own words; they
are found in the sutras, so you should learn
them well.

Neither Buddhas nor gods would ever accept contributions from those who
slander the Law. Then how can we
human beings accept them? The deity of Kasuga Shrine proclaimed through
an oracle that he would accept nothing
from those with impure hearts, though he should have to eat the flames
of burning copper; that he would refuse to
set foot in their homes, though he should have to sit on red-hot
copper. He would rather come down to a miserable
hut with weeds choking the passageway, or to a poor thatched cottage.
He declared that he would never visit the
unfaithful even if they hung sacred festoons for a thousand days to
welcome him, but that he would go to a house
where the people believe, no matter how others might shun their
wretchedness. Lamenting that slanderers overturn
this country, the gods abandoned it and ascended to heaven. "Those with
impure hearts" means those who refuse to
embrace the Lotus Sutra, as is stated in the fifth volume of the Lotus
Sutra. If the gods themselves regard alms from
slanderers as "flames of burning copper," how could we common mortals
possibly consume them? If someone
were to kill our parents and then try to offer us some gift, could we
possibly accept it? Not even sages or saints con
avoid the hell of incessant suffering if they accept offerings from
slanderers. Nor should you associate with
slanderers, for if you do, you will share the same guilt as they. This
you should fear above all.

Shakyamuni is the father, sovereign and teacher of all other Buddhas
and all gods, of the whole assembly of men and
heavenly beings, and of all sentient beings, What god would rejoice if
Shakyamuni were killed? Today all the people
of our country have proved to be enemies of Shakyamuni, but more than
lay men or women, it is the priests with
twisted understanding who are the Buddha's worst enemies. There are two
kinds of understanding, true and
perverted. No matter how learned a person may appear, if his ideas are
warped you should not listen to him. Nor
should you follow priests merely because they are venerable or of high
rank. But if a person has the wisdom to know
the spirit of the Lotus Sutra, no matter how lowly he may appear,
worship him and serve him as though he were a
living Buddha. This is stated in the sutra. That is why the Great
Teacher Dengyo said that the lay men and women
who believe in this sutra, even if they lack knowledge or violate the
precepts, should be seated above Hinayana
priests who strictly observe all 250 commandment. The priests of this
Mahayana sutra should therefore be seated
even higher. Ryokan of Gokuraku-ji temple is believed to be a living
Buddha, but men and women who believe in the
Lotus Sutra should be seated high above him. It seems extraordinary
that this Ryokan, who observes the 250
commandments, should become angry and glower whenever he sees or hears
about Nichiren. The sage, it seems,
has been possessed by a devil. He is like a basically even tempered
person who, when drunk reveals an evil side and
causes trouble. The Buddha taught that giving alms to Mahakashyapa,
Shariputra, Maudgalyayana and Subhuti, who
did not yet know of the Lotus Sutra, would lead one to fall into the
three evil paths. He said that these four great
disciples were more base than wild dogs or jackals. They adamantly
upheld the 250 Buddhist commandments, and
their observance of the three thousand standards was as perfect as the
harvest moon. But until they embraced the
Lotus Sutra they were still like wild dogs to the Buddha. In his
comparison, our priests are so base that they are
beyond description.

So flagrantly do the priests of Kencho-ji and Engaku-ji temples break
the code of conduct that it resembles a
mountain which has collapse into rubble. Their licentious behavior is
like that of monkeys. It is utterly futile to look
for salvation in the next life by giving alms to such priests. There is
no doubt that the protective gods have
abandoned our land. Long ago the gods, bodhisattvas, and men of
Learning pledged together in the presence of
Shakyamuni that if there be a land hostile to the Lotus Sutra, they
would become frost and hail in summer to drive
the country into famine, or pestilence to devour the crops; or cause
droughts, or floods to ruin the fields and farms;
or become typhoons and sweep the people to their deaths; or transform
themselves into demons and plague the
people. Bodhisattva Hachiman was among those present. Does he not fear
breaking the oath made at Eagle Peak?
Should he break his promise, he would surely be doomed to the hell of
incessant suffering -- a fearful, terrible thing
to contemplate. Until the envoy of the Buddha actually appeared to
expound the Lotus Sutra, the rulers of the land
were not hostile to it, for they revered all the sutras equally.
However, now that I am spreading the Lotus Sutra as the
Buddha's envoy, everyone -- from ruler to the lowliest subject --has
become a slanderer. So far Hachiman has done
everything possible to prevent hostility toward the Lotus Sutra from
developing among our people, as reluctant to
abandon them as parents would be to abandon an only child, but now in
fear of breaking the pledge he made at
Eagle Peak, he has razed his shrine and ascended to heaven. Even so,
should there be a votary of the Lotus Sutra
who would give his life for it, Hachiman will watch over him. But since
both Tensho Daijin and Hachiman have gone,
how could the other gods remain in their shrines? Even if they did not
wish to leave, how could they stay another
day if I reproach them for not keeping their promise? A person may be a
thief and as long as no one knows, he can
live wherever he wishes. But when denounces as a thief by someone who
knows him, he is forced to flee at once. In
the same way, because I know of their vow, the gods are compelled to
abandon their shrines. Contrary to popular
belief, the land has become inhabited by demons. How pitiful!

Many have expounded the various teachings of Shakyamuni, but until now,
no one, not even T'ien-t'ai or Dengyo,
has taught the most important of all. That is as it should be, for that
teaching appears and spreads with the advent of
Bodhisattva Jogyo during the first five hundred years of the Latter Day
of the Law.

No matter what, always keep your faith in the Lotus Sutra steadfast.
Then, at the last moment of your life, you will
be welcomed by a thousand Buddhas, who will take you swiftly to the
paradise at Eagle Peak where you will
experience the true happiness of the Law. If your faith weakens and you
do not attain Buddhahood in this lifetime,
do not reproach me. If you do, you would be like the patient who
refuses the medicine his physician prescribes and
takes the wrong medicine instead. It never occurs to him that it is his
fault, and he blames the physician when he
does not recover. Faith in this sutra means that you will surely attain
Buddhahood if you are true to the entirety of the
Lotus Sutra, adhering exactly to its teachings without adding any of
your own ideas or following the arbitrary
interpretations of others.

Attaining Buddhahood is nothing extraordinary. If you chant
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with your whole heart, you
will naturally become endowed with the Buddha's thirty-two features and
eighty characteristics. Shakyamuni stated,
"At the start I pledged to make all people perfectly equal to me,
without any distinction between us" Therefore, it is
not difficult to become a Buddha. A bird's egg contains nothing but
liquid, yet by itself this develops into a beak,
two eyes, and all the other parts which form a bird, and can fly into
the sky. We, too are like the egg, ignorant and
base, but when nurtured by the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we
develop the beak of the Buddha's thirty-two
features and the feathers of his eighty characteristics and are free to
soar into the skies of the ultimate reality. The
Nirvana Sutra states that all people are enclosed by the shell of
ignorance, lacking the beak of wisdom. The Buddha
comes back to this world, just as a mother bird returns to her nest,
and cracks the shell so that all people, like
fledglings, may leave the nest and soar into the skies of
enlightenment.

"Knowledge without faith" describes those who may be knowledgeable
about the Lotus Sutra but do not believe in
it. These people will never attain Buddhahood. Those of "faith without
knowledge" may lack knowledge but believe,
and can attain Buddhahood. These are not merely my own words but are
explicitly stated in the sutra. In the second
volume of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha said to Shariputra, "It is by
faith and not by your own intelligence that you
can attain enlightenment." This explains why even Shariputra,
unsurpassed in his intelligence, was able to attain
Buddhahood only by embracing and firmly believing in the sutra.
Knowledge alone could not bring him to
enlightenment. If Shariputra could not reach enlightenment through his
vast knowledge, how can we, of little
knowledge, dare to dream that we may attain Buddhahood if we do not
have faith? The sutra explains that people in
the Latter Day of the Law will be arrogant, though their knowledge of
Buddhism is trifling, and will show disrespect
to the Priest, neglect the Law and thereby fall into the evil paths. If
one truly understands Buddhism, he should show
this in his respect for the Priest, reverence for the Law and offerings
to the Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha is not
among us now, so you must respect the person with enlightened wisdom as
you would the Buddha himself. If you
sincerely follow him, your blessings will be bountiful. If one wishes
for happiness in his next existence, he should
renounce his desire for fame and fortune and respect the priest who
teaches the Lotus Sutra as a living Buddha, no
matter how humble that priest's station. Thus it is written in the
sutra.

The Zen sect today violates the five great principles of humanity --
benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom
and faith. To honor the wise and virtuous, to respect the elderly and
protect the young, are recognized universally as
humane conduct in both Buddhist and secular realms. But the Zen
priests, who are nothing but uneducated rabble,
are not even intelligent enough to distinguish black from white. They
have now donned gaudy priestly garments and
become so conceited that they belittle the learned and virtuous priests
of the Tendai and Shingon sects. They
observe none of the proper manners and think that they rank higher than
all others. These people are so insolent that
even the animals are more respectable. Regarding this, the Great
Teacher Dengyo wrote that the otter shows his
respect before eating the fish he has caught, the crow in the forest
carries food to its parents and grandparents, the
dove takes care to perch three branches lower than its father, wild
geese keep perfect formation when they fly
together, and lambs kneel to drink their mother's milk. He asks, if
lowly animals conduct themselves with such
propriety, how can human beings be so lacking in courtesy? Judging from
the words of Dengyo, it is only natural
that the Zen priests should be confused about Buddhism when they are
ignorant even of how men should behave.
They are acting like devils.

Understand clearly what I have taught you here and practice without
negligence all the teachings of the Lotus Sutra's
eight volumes and twenty-eight chapters. When you long to see me, pray
toward the sun and at the same time, my
image will be reflected there. Have the priest who is my messenger read
this letter to you. Trust him as a priest with
enlightened wisdom and ask him any questions you may have about
Buddhism. If you do not question and resolve
your doubts, you cannot dispel the dark clouds of illusion, any more
than you could travel a thousand miles without
legs. Have him read this letter again and again and ask whatever
questions you wish. In expectation of seeing you
again, I will conclude here.